Latest news
‘Spheres’ CD Giveaway
We have three copies of a fabulous new CD to give away! Violinist Daniel Hope’s Spheres on the DG label is a brilliant compilation of 18 tracks of mostly 20th century music by Arvo Part, Philip Glass, Elena Kats-Chernin, Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of Sergei) and Alex Baranowski. Spotted by Yehudi Menuhin at the age of 11, Hope has he has…
‘Musical Malaproptionary’ – twists and ‘terms’
In the world of Paula Hollins, Abendmusik is ‘a method for making printed music lie flat on a stand’, and Abandonne is ‘What Pinkerton did to Buterfly’! These whacky definitions come from her new sunny yellow covered publication, Musical Malaproptionary: A dictionary of musical terms redefined humorously. Aimed at ‘music lovers, screwball musicians, irreverent iconoclasts…. and anyone with a…
Alexia Voulgaridou sings ‘Tosca’
In echoes of the past, a Greek soprano will take the role of Tosca in Opera Australia’s winter production directed by John Bell and conducted by Christian Badea. Soprano Alexia Voulgaridou will sing the role with which the name of her compatriot Maria Callas is inextricably linked. It is not the soprano’s first performance in Sydney. She…
Eistedfodd update – choral championship winners
The Sydney Eisteddfod presented the John Lamble Foundation Australasian Choral Championships in the Concert Hall at The Concourse, Chatswood in early June. The program featured choirs of all ages and types which had won places during the previous week’s various events of the Sydney Eisteddfod Choral section. The primary and infant school choirs competed in the morning, the…
‘pulse:heart:beats’ – “A Kaleidoscope of Sounds and Imagery” from Taikoz and Synergy Percussion
‘Kaleidoscope’ – a word of Greek origin and a composite of kalos, meaning beauty, eidos, meaning shape, and skopeo to look or to examine. Together, they refer to the ‘observation of beautiful forms.’ It is a word, says Ian Cleworth , which has recently been used a lot in the vocabulary of TaikOz and its…
Update on the ‘Ring’
Click here to read Matthew Westwood’s update on the Melbourne Ring cycle in The Australian.
Latest reviews
Concert Review: Australia Quartet ‘Transfigured Night’
Australia Quartet Transfigured Night, Thursday 31 October, Utzon Room Sydney Opera House. Programme: Kats-Chernin E: Scherzino (2013) World Premiere. Schoenberg A: Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) arr. Barton Staggs, Schumann R: Piano Quartet in E flat major, op.47. In a well balanced programme of old elements and new, the Australia Quartet’s offerings proceeded in reverse…
CD Review: ‘Pavarotti – The 50 Greatest Tracks’ reflects a life in song
Pavarotti The 50 Greatest Tracks is a new release from Decca commemorating two half century anniversaries. The first is his international debut in 1963 as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor in Amsterdam, followed later that year by his Covent Garden debut as Rodolfo in La Boheme, replacing the indisposed Giuseppe di Stefano – the serendipitous call to…